Grain structure evolution during friction-stir welding of AZ31 magnesium alloy Original Research Article

The high-resolution electron back-scatter diffraction technique was employed to study the grain structure evolution during friction-stir welding of AZ31 magnesium alloy. The material flow was found to be a very complex process associated mainly with basal slip. The grain structure development was demonstrated to be dictated by the texture evolution but also to involve image twinning, geometrical effects of strain and limited discontinuous recrystallization.